First Day of Fishing

Everyone had a great day today fishing. The dorado as usual are a long way from Loreto to the north but people managed to find them so that was all that counted.

We have 6 boats out each day fishing and the rest of the gang are not fishing and have rented a car so they can go exploring.

Rainy Day

We woke up in time to go out fishing for our first day on the Sea of Cortez but once we all arrived in the lobby, we realized there was lightning all over and soon it started to rain as we were about to walk to the marina. So, after hanging out for a few hours waiting to see if it cleared, we were told the day was canceled due to bad weather so we had a day off in Loreto. We all went back to our rooms and rested up a bit (we were up at 5am) and then went to breakfast and then walked into town to take a look around and hit the supermercado for a few items and of course the guys needed a trip to Cactus liquors!

Loreto Baja California Sur 2009

I’m leading a group of anglers down to Loreto on the Sea of Cortez to do some fly-fishing for dorado, sailfish and marlin. Most of the group, are coming from the greater Seattle area and will all be on the same plane together. I am departing from Montana so I will meet up with them all in Los Angeles. So far all is going perfectly.

I opted to drive to Bozeman (hour drive) and spend the night since my flight was to depart at 6:30 am and I’d need to do an international check-in. The mere thought of getting up at 3 am to drive to the airport in the dark dodging deer along the way was not something I wanted to attempt. So, I left Saturday and headed to Bozeman to spend the night and checked in this morning allowing myself an extra hour of sleep.

Bozeman airport (Gallatin Field) has gone entirely “self serve” pretty much forcing people to have to use a computer to access their flight information and do their own boarding passes. Since I am flying on two different airlines to get to Loreto, the kiosk machine didn’t recognize my confirmation number for some reason so I had to go to the “special services” line which was mostly made up of unaccompanied minors traveling. No problem, the attendant at the counter got me taken care of and then it was off to the x-ray machines so I could explain to everyone that I had a bionic knee and would set off the machine…which in fact, I did. Then after a thorough wanding by the TSA agent I was finally good to go get a cup of coffee and wait to board my flight.

The flight was a peace of cake and we actually arrived 20 minutes early if you can believe that. I will also mention that on both of my flights this morning, Delta has given us complimentary beverages and snacks and I didn’t have to pay to check my bag. Next stop is LAX and meeting up with the group.

Well, everyone is here and the flight has been held up in Vancouver, BC due to mechanical problems, so we wait, and wait and wait. Finally around 2:30 pm (flight was supposed to have left at 11:30 am) we take off and arrive in Loreto around 5 pm local time. It's hot but not as hot as I've seen it here in the past. For the first time in ages, I manage to skip right through customs and immigration and get a green light instead of the dreaded red light so we're off to the hotel.

The hotel is lovely! La Mision Loreto has been totally redone and reopened in November. The rooms or gorgeous and huge and I think the group is very happy with this choice of accommodations. Tomorrow we go fishing.

Montana Runoff is in Full Swing

Historically in Montana, the entire month of June is runoff time with about every river swollen to capacity and beyond with flooding throughout the state and this June is no exception except that it started in ernest in May and is now in full swing with flooding everywhere. I've been documenting some of the local rivers in the last week checking the flooding and here is a quick review of what I've seen in my general vicinity.

First the Jefferson River

Rock Creek near Philipsburg

Up on Skalkaho Pass the snow is still deep in some spots and melting rapidly which is causing all the runoff. The water falls are really hauling water.

Yellowstone National Park Memorial Day 2009

Yesterday was a gorgeous day to head into Yellowstone Park which is only a two hour drive from home. I've never gone into the park quite this early before so it was interesting to see the park in springtime with a considerable amount of snow still on the ground in spots.

The closest entrance to the park from where I live is the West Entrance through West Yellowstone, MT. From there, it's about another 14 mile drive to Madison Junction where you take a right hand turn to Old Faithful at Madison Junction.

First stop along the way was the Fountain Paint Pot Trail, featuring geysers, mud pots, hot springs and fumaroles along a boardwalk. Plenty of geothermal activity to witness here.

Next stop was Old Faithful, another 17 miles or so down the road past lots more large animals alongside the road to thrill tourists and onlookers. This stretch has some beautiful fly fishing water along the well renowned Firehole River. There were plenty of people out trying their luck on the Firehole yesterday, casting along the river's edge with steaming vents encircling them.

When we arrived at Old Faithful, we had just missed the geyser so we had about a 45 minute wait for the next "performance" so to speak. We walked around and listened to the narration of the park ranger who was making the most of entertaining the huge crowds. Finally, after a long wait, Old Faithful erupted in typical geyser fashion and gave a rather short performance although it was well received by all.

Having such a short amount of time to see as much of the park as possible, we opted to head to Yellowstone Lake in lieu of doing the entire loop that runs from Madison Junction to Old Faithful, Yellowstone Lake's West Thumb, then on to Fishing Bridge, around to Canyon Village and through Norris back to Madison Junction and then on to West Yellowstone.

When we started climbing in altitude to Yellowstone Lake, we climbed to 8,391 feet asl where there was still quite a lot of snow on the ground and the lake was still a good bit frozen, although much of it was melted. We encountered a small grizzly bear that looked like he was having great difficulties coming out of hibernation, skinny and sickly looking. I'm not sure what was wrong with him but he didn't look good at all.

That's about as far as we had time for in one day, so we turned around and headed back to West Yellowstone, stopping along the way for more photo ops and large animal sightings. All in all a great day in the park, which would only have been better if I'd had my fly rod in hand on the Firehole!

A few more shots from in the park:

Scenic Montana Shots

Reconnecting with our Montana Souls

So, we gave Oregon a shot and it just didn't work out. Between my horrible joints that hated the climate and the lack of open spaces, I decided I needed to return to southwest Montana where I've lived the last 11 years quite comfortably with the exception of the long winters. I'm going to work on that though and figure out a place to go for winter.

Upon departing Roseburg, Maggie the wonder dog and her feline pal (and sister) Madison and I took to the road and pulling our new (well, new to us) 1970 Aristocrat camp trailer decided to take a few days and camp out in Sisters, OR in search of morels and boletes and whatever else we could muster up.

Maggie had a great time playing with her doggie pals Mazey and Ruby and Madison sat in the window most of the time or hid and slept all day so she could pester the crap out of me all night long while I was trying to sleep! Have you ever tried camping with a cat in tow? It's not a particularly fun thing to do, traveling with a litter box in cramped quarters.

We met up with friends out at the Jack Creek campground about 18 miles from Sisters, which was quite a peaceful place to camp once the weekend warriers departed Sunday afternoon and Monday morning. The mushrooming was not as good as we'd hoped it would be. There were no boletes popping yet and the burn that had been producing had been so pounded by commercial pickers there were no morels to pick including babies. There were scads of pickers and buyers and virtually no mushrooms to go around so it seemed like a bad dream. We did manage to get out and find some natural morels though which is a treat for me, not having any natural morel spots in which to forage in Montana.

After four nights at Jack Creek, Maggie, Madison and I continued our trek back to SW Montana overnighting in Connell, WA and then finally making it back here late afternoon through rain, high winds, snow and crazy weather. Now we are getting settled in Montana and enjoying life staying with a friend in the Highland Mountain foothills and especially enjoying the beautiful sunny, warm weather. It's good to be HOME!